5,300-Year-Old Iceman’s Genetic Blueprints Unveiled

5,300-Year-Old Iceman’s Genetic Blueprints Unveiled

By peering deeply into the DNA of the mummy known as Ötzi, geneticists have expanded the rap sheet on the 5,300-year-old Iceman: He had brown eyes, brown hair and blood type O, was lactose intolerant and his modern-day relatives live on Corsica and Sardinia.

These vital statistics and more come from an analysis of the Tyrolean man’s complete genetic blueprints, reported online in Nature Communications. The DNA analysis also found that the Iceman, found frozen and well-preserved in the Alps in 1991, carried genetic risk factors for heart disease. And he was infected with the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, making him the oldest known case of the disease.